COLUMBUS — The NCAA has filed a federal lawsuit against Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, challenging an executive order that would allow certain college athletes to compete for a fifth season despite having exhausted their eligibility under NCAA rules.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, was announced Friday by NCAA President Charlie Baker. It follows an executive order DeWine signed Tuesday allowing Ohio colleges and universities to disregard the NCAA's eligibility restrictions for certain athletes from the high school class of 2022.
The dispute stems from a major change to the NCAA's eligibility rules adopted in June.
Under the new system, college athletes can compete in five seasons over a five-year period, replacing the previous standard of four seasons within five years. The eligibility clock begins when an athlete first enrolls full-time in college or during the academic year after turning 19, whichever comes first.
However, athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 and completed four seasons of competition by the end of the 2025-26 academic year are excluded from receiving an additional season under the NCAA's implementation of the new rules.
DeWine argues that the distinction unfairly penalizes those athletes while allowing others to benefit from the expanded eligibility requirements.
His executive order gives Ohio's public and private universities the option of allowing affected athletes to compete during the 2026-27 academic year while legal challenges continue.
That could have implications for athletic programs throughout the state, including Ohio State, Cincinnati, Xavier, and other NCAA member institutions.
In fact, Cincinnati basketball player MJ Collins and Xavier's Filip Borovicanin have already been involved in litigation challenging the NCAA's eligibility restrictions.
The NCAA sees the governor's intervention differently.
In its lawsuit, the association argues that DeWine exceeded his authority by attempting to allow Ohio institutions to disregard rules they agreed to follow as NCAA members.
The NCAA also contends that the order violates the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause by giving Ohio universities an unfair advantage over schools in other states. Its legal challenge additionally raises First Amendment objections, arguing that the order interferes with the association's ability to establish and enforce membership requirements.
Baker described the lawsuit as an extraordinary step, arguing that allowing individual states to establish their own eligibility requirements would make it increasingly difficult to maintain consistent competition rules nationwide.
The NCAA is asking the federal court for declaratory and injunctive relief that would prevent the governor's order from overriding its eligibility requirements.
DeWine, meanwhile, maintains that his intention is to ensure athletes from the class of 2022 receive the same opportunities available to other college athletes.
The dispute comes amid a growing number of lawsuits challenging the NCAA's new eligibility system. Athletes across the country have sought court orders allowing them to continue competing, with judges reaching different conclusions about the rules.
For Ohio's universities, the immediate concern is determining which athletes can compete without exposing their programs to potential NCAA penalties.
The federal lawsuit does not settle that question. Instead, it adds another legal challenge to an eligibility system that has already created considerable uncertainty for college athletes and the schools recruiting them.
With the 2026-27 basketball season approaching and fall sports already underway, the timing leaves affected athletes and universities waiting for answers that could have an immediate impact on their seasons.
